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Asda to work with rivals

ASDA and J Sainsbury, two of Britain’s biggest rival supermarket chains, have held exploratory talks about collaborating on a distribution centre.

The initial talks centred on a so-called consolidation centre — where branded goods are stored before being transferred to distribution centres.

Andy Bond, chief executive of Asda, has accused supermarkets of being “disappointingly slow” to collaborate and has tried to find ways for rivals to work together on non-competitive issues.

“We are a bloody competitive lot,” Bond told The Sunday Times. “But for green issues or saving costs we should find the balance between competition and collaboration.”

Asda said many distribution centres were not fully used and it might be possible to create efficiencies in the logistics and supply chain by working with rivals. “The whole of the logistics chain is one of the biggest areas of opportunity,” said Bond.